Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within
by Coraline15
Summary: It had been some since the eight kids had teamed up to take out the evil Dr. Loboto in Gravity Falls... However, after Norman has a series of terrifying visions, the Mystery Kids may realize that some Mysteries may be much darker than one could ever imagine... (Takes place after Episode one of the fan-made animatic) (Dark/Suspense Fanfic)
1. Chapter 1

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

_**Disclaimers: Coraline Jones and Wybie Lovat are owned by Henry Selick, Norman Babcock and Co. are owned by Chris Butler, Dipper Pines and Co. are owned by Disney, and Razputin "Raz" Aquato and Lili Zanotto are owned by Double Fine and are all copied without permission. Any other characters used belong to their original owners, and are also be copied without permission. I do not own any of the characters I will mention in this story. I have made this story for fun and not profit.**_

Writer's Note: First off, this is one of my very first stories that include characters other than Coraline and Wybie, since I've made stories of them two before... With that being said, a lot of them may be a bit out of character. Also this takes place sometime after the first fan-made crossover animatic called 'The Mystery Kids', so, they may be a bit older or the same age as they were in the animatic. This story is actually going to be a bit dark and filled with suspense as well as other things. For anyone who may see this as too dark or who are easily freaked out, may want to find a different story to read... For those who are not, may continue. (Rated PG-13 for dark themes and suspense)

Prologue

The inside of the room he was pitch black. Norman Babcock couldn't see anything three feet in front of him. The ground beneath him was slick, as if he was standing on a layer of mold that had taken over the original ground covering. The air was musty, and damp, with a foul lingering odor that he couldn't place.

"Hello?"

His voice echoed throughout the dark and empty chamber. After a few moments his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he was surprised by what he saw. He was in some kind of corridor, the walls were made of what seemed to be stone or cement that had been worn away by age. Norman took a step and immediately regretted it as he slid and stumbled to the floor. That was when the new foul odor reached his nose and he grimaced at the thick metallic smell.

Norman let out a groan as he slowly lifted himself up off the grimy floor. Norman tried to wipe whatever splashed on his face and turned to the side, feeling something near his left. He was surprised as he realized it was an old flashlight.  
Norman quickly tried to turn on the light, which came to life after flickering faintly. As he was starting to get up, he saw the light glinting off of something on the floor. Norman felt a slight chill go up his spine as he slowly turned to his right and tentatively glanced down. There beneath him was a pool of deep, crimson blood. Norman continued to look around and froze as he saw where the blood had come from. Near the wall laid the rotted remains of a young girl.

Norman's heart seemed to nearly burst from his chest from the horrible sight before him. He scrambled back, trying to get away from it when he felt something hot on the back of his neck. Norman slowly turned towards what was behind him, only to see the rippling black mass standing mere inches from his face. The creature pulled itself back and lunged.  
A loud scream left Norman's throat as he shot out of his sleep like an arrow, sitting up so fast in his bed that the room seemed to spin around him. Norman took in heaving breaths as cold sweat ran down his face. He was just starting to calm down a bit until he heard the loud sounds of stomping feet echoing down the hallway.

"Oh, great..." He groaned as he heard shouting from down the hall.

That was when the door to his room slammed open and his angry sister Courtney stormed in the room.

"UGH! What is UP with you!? Don't you know what TIME it is!?" She nearly shouted in frustration.

"Sorry! I can't _help_ it!" Norman shouted back.  
"Just because you have those stupid powers of talking to dead people, doesn't mean you can just keep everyone up at night." Courtney scowled. "We'll talk about this later... Right now, I need my beauty-sleep..."

"Yeah... Have fun with that..." Norman mumbled angrily, glad that she had already left.

Norman sighed and put hands to his face and rubbed at his eyes groggily. He laid back and looked at the clock on his phone; realizing it was around 3:14am. Norman laid there, thinking to himself. After at least a few minutes, he sighed again and soon began to dial his phone. It rang for a minute before a groggy voice answered.

"Neil... It's Norman..." He said before he paused. "I know it's late... But... I think I had a vision..." He paused again. "I think we should call Dipper and the others in the morning... I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen..." Norman soon hung up and tried to go back to sleep.

No matter how much he tried, all Norman could think of was the gruesome images and that dark figure in his vision.

**A/N: I'm not used to typing for characters I've never really used before ^^; So I hope this doesn't sound bad... **


	2. Chapter 2

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part One

The day was cold and windy; indicating it as being early fall. Within the distant and quiet town of Gravity Falls Oregon, thick clouds of fog hung in the cool air early autumn air. There did not seem to be anyone out during this time of day. It was still relatively early and it was hard to tell what the time truly was with the thick looming fog. Dipper Pines groaned as he glanced out of the window of the Mystery Shack, finding there was nothing else to really do. The forecast for the morning was said to be a chance of rain later that day, which would add to the already dismal morning. It wasn't that he didn't like the creepy atmosphere, there was nothing that he could really do. Since the incident of a certain insane dentist, there was a lack of tourists in the shop even more than ever.

Even with the work that had been put into fixing up the shop, their grunkle Stan was still not too happy about how much money needed to be put into fixing the shop. To make matters worse, he was no longer allowed to take charge of the shop. He was a bit annoyed that Stan decided Soos would be in charge.

Dipper let out another groan.

"Hey Dipper!"

Dipper turned to see his sister Mable up ontop of a nearby bookshelf, smiling down at him.

"Mable!? What're you _doing!?"_ He cried out, not wanting them to get in more trouble than they were already.

"Relax Dipper..." Mable replied before jumping off and landing on their grunkle Stan's chair. "You act like the closet dentist stole your book that you keep looking at."

Dipper made an unamused expression.

"You know _exactly_ why I'm upset, Mable!" He nearly shouted. "Because of Loboto trashing the shop, Stan doesn't trust me!"

"How is that _my_ fault?" Mable returned a bit more upset than before. _"He_ was the one that _did_ it!"

Dipper made another angry face before he let out a sigh.

"Why does it matter...?" He finally said. "He left Soos in charge this time... So we can't really do anything about that..."

Just then, the phone to the Mystery Shack rang. Dipper sat and waited for a moment before picking up the phone.

"Hello?"

_"Dipper?"_ came the reply from the caller on the line.

"Yes? Who is this?" Dipper asked, sitting up a bit.

_"Dipper, it's me Norman! Norman Babcock!"_

Dipper sat up straight at the name.

"N-Norman!? W-what... Why'd you call the shop?"

_"It seemed like the only number that I could reach to talk to you!"_ Norman replied. _"Listen, you have to turn on the news! It's _really_ important!"_

Dipper sat down on the chair and turned the TV on again, since it had been turned off after the weather had been told for the day.

"...In other news, there seems to have been an incident during the night as a young from Gravity Falls seems to have gone missing... Authorities are still unsure of how this may have happened, since it had been hours ago that the girl had gone missing..." The news anchor drawled.

Dipper stared in shock at the news on the screen.

"W-wait... Norman... H-how...? Dipper started.

_"I'll explain later! We have to call Coraline and the others first!"_ Norman urged. _"Something bad is happening!"_

Dipper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay okay..." He relented. "I'll let Coraline and Wybie know..."

_"And I'll call Raz and Lili... We may need everyone that can help."_

With that the call ended and Dipper slumped in the chair.

"It's one person..." Dipper muttered. "I bet there's a reason..."

He was not in the mood for going after one kid. It wasn't like people ran off and then came never back.

**(Please Read and Review)**


	3. Chapter 3

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Two

The mid-morning air was a bit cool in Ashland, as frost seemed to have started to form on the ground around the Pink Palace. Inside, Coraline Jones had just hung up after talking on her cell phone and was now waiting for Wybie to pick her up. She was glad that she was old enough to be on her own in the house, since her parents had gone to have a conference about the next month's catalog. Even though she was able to be home alone, they had taken the only vehicle at the house, making it nearly impossible to go anywhere.

This begged the question; How was Norman and Neil supposed to get to Oregon from Massachusetts? The last time they all went to Gravity Falls, they had gotten in deep trouble with Norman's parents, her being the oldest and having them all leave the car in the first place... It's a wonder that Norman wouldn't be allowed to go on another trip there; Especially since they nearly got killed.

Coraline put a hand to her face and groaned. It wasn't ALL her fault though... Raz had been the one that got them into that mess... Then again, if it wasn't for Raz and Lili, they wouldn't have met Dipper and Mable and formed The Mystery Kids... Or maybe- .

Coraline was shocked out of her thoughts as there was a loud rapping at the front door. Coraline got up and slowly went to the door, where she found Wybie Lovat standing there a bit awkwardly.

"Um... H-hey Jonesy..." He muttered, nervously scratching his neck.

"There you are!" Coraline said. "What took you?"

"I had things to take care of..." Wybie replied softly.

"Well, anyway..." Coraline started. "My parents are off at a conference... Sounds pretty stupid to me..." She muttered.

"Maybe there's a reason..." Wybie replied.

Coraline ignored the comment and got her stuff together.

"We should go before they get back..." She said.

"But Jonesy!"

"Hey, they're gonna be gone for at least a few days... The place they sell the catalogs to isn't just in town here, you know... There's a bunch of them all over!"

"If you're sure about that..."

"Of course I'm sure!" Coraline snapped. "They told me so! Now let's go already!"

Wybie held back the urge the sigh heavily, knowing that making Coraline upset will just make things worse for him. He nodded instead and they both headed off to towards Gravity Falls.

* * *

"...But Dad!?" Norman shouted, trying to get his father to see sense.

"No buts!" His father Perry snapped back. "Do you remember what happened last time?"

Norman looked at the floor, slightly shamefaced as he remembered perfectly well.

"You left the car when I SPECIFICALLY told you all to stay put!" Perry continued.

"There was a REASON why we LEFT!" Norman tried to reason.

"I don't CARE, Norman! Even if you thought that aliens were invading the world, that doesn't mean you disregard what I say!"

Norman scowled slightly at that comment.

"Sorry Norman! But you're still grounded until I say when you've learned your lesson!" Perry said, making the decision final.

Norman slumped over on the couch as his father left the house to go to work.

"Now what am I going to do...?" Norman thought glumly. "The others will need my help... But I can't help them if I'm stuck here..."

At that moment, his sister Courtney walked into the room.

"Too bad you're grounded... Now I have to watch you while Mom and Dad are doing whatever it is their doing..."

Norman sat up straight as an idea came to him.

"Courtney! YOU could help me get to Gravity Falls! We can take your car while Mom and Dad are at work!" Norman grinned as he turned towards his sister.

Courtney scowled.

"What!? Don't drag ME into this! This wouldn't have happened if you listened to Dad in the first place...!" Courtney countered back.

"Courtney! This is IMPORTANT! Something horrible is happening in Gravity Falls and they might need my HELP!"

Courtney glared daggers, not wanting to get mixed up in this because of her brother's stupid decisions. She growled under her breath and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Alright fine, I'll take you and your friend on your stupid trip... But you owe me BIGTIME if I do this for you..."

Norman frowned, not really liking where this was going.

"Name your price, Courtney..." Norman slightly groaned.

Courtney grinned.

"Okay, first off... You will do whatever I say and be my personal servant for two weeks..." She replied with a sly and devious grin. "Also, you will do all of my algebra homework... Since your much smarter at it than me."

Norman scowled as he looked at her. He looked off to the side, near the window in thought. He then turned and saw Courtney starting to leave thinking he didn't want to take the offer.

"W-wait!" He shouted.

Courtney stopped and glanced back a bit smugly.

"I-it's a deal..." Norman relented after a moment.

His sister grinned.

"Great! Now go get your stuff and lets go..." Courtney said and also got her own stuff for the trip before they got in the car to go and pick up Norman's friend Neil Downe.

**A/N: More things await ahead**


	4. Chapter 4

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Three

Raz Aquato sighed as he thought about the call from Norman that morning, which he was surprised that the call was able to reach all the way at the Whispering Rock campsite. He had thought that the wrist COM he and Lili had been given before they had met Coraline and the others had only reached a certain distance away. Then again, it must've been a really large signal proximity. Raz then figured that part of it may have to do with his and Lili's psychic abilities; since they were true psychonauts.

Raz looked out over the horizon, watching the sky that was once midnight blue become a deep lavender as the golden sun ascended over the seemingly peaceful forest, painting the sky in mix of pinks and oranges. Down below, a light mist had began to disperse from in between the tree line.

He then heard a noise behind him and turned around to see his teammate and girlfriend Lili Zanotto walking over to him.

"Hey Lili..." He said, sounding a bit listless.

Lili saw this as something that was really rare in how Raz would normally act. She sat down beside him on the large rock that looked over the campsite.

"What're you doing up here? It's not like you to miss improvement training..." Lili mentioned.

"I've just needed to think for a minute..." Raz replied.

"Is this about the call from Norman?" Lili asked.

"Yeah... He said he had a... Vision or something..."

"I know Raz, I was there when he called..." Lili deadpanned.

Raz sighed gruffly at that.

"I just got to thinking... Why would we need to be called about someone who went missing that is probably just off somewhere?" Raz stated.

"Raz, just because someone isn't a top-notch executive for something doesn't mean that it isn't suspicious..." Lili mentioned a bit harshly.

Raz stared at her.

"Why are you so angry?" He asked, a bit apprehensive and confused.

Lili let out an exasperated sigh.

"Because you always seem like you're moping around when before you acted like such an airhead when we had been after Dr. Loboto!" She snapped, a bit harsher than she intended.

Raz didn't say anything back and looked away, remaining silent. Lili's expression softened a bit and she sighed a bit more gently.

"I'm sorry, Raz... I've just been thinking about this and what if something might be happening that nobody actually knows about?" Lili confessed. "That something more evil is happening...?"

Raz looked at her again and smiled gently.

"Don't worry..." He replied. "We'll find whatever is going on and take care of it... Even if it takes us the rest of our lives."

Lili smirked.

"Now you're sounding more like your cocky and macho self..." She replied, giving him a light punch in the shoulder.

Raz smiled and rubbed his shoulder.

"Heh... Yeah... C'mon, we should get going." Raz grinned as they both stood up. "We can use levitation..."

Lili looked off over the campsite, wondering if it would be a good idea to leave without telling the others. She then looked towards where Raz was heading off to on his levitation. Lili took one meaningful glance at the scene below before she formed her own levitation and left, following close behind him.

* * *

Dipper looked outside and saw the sky had gotten dark. He looked at the nearby clock and let out a groan. The time now said; 4:39pm. Dipper was more frustrated than ever. He had been sitting in the same room pretty much doing absolutely nothing. He glanced over and saw Mable trying to add more buttons to her already gaudy and clunky sweater. Dipper then rolled his eyes. He seriously couldn't understand how she could actually consider that as 'True Art'.

Dipper sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Why was he even bothering with trying to see what Mable was getting at with her thoughts? Mable was just being Mable... He couldn't fault her for being how she was, even if she got on his nerves.

Letting out another sigh, Dipper slowly rose from his seat and walked over to the window. As predicted earlier that day, it had started to rain. He decided to head up to the attic that made up his and Mable's room. Maybe he could go through the mystery book and find something interesting to do.

Mable noticed Dipper leaving and looked down at what she had been working on. She finished replacing the new buttons on and slipping on the sweater again before heading up the stairs as well.

Dipper was already in the shared bedroom and reading through the book.

"There has to be something interesting here..." Dipper muttered to himself.

"Hi Dipper!"

Dipper yelled in surprise at the loud shout and fell off of his bed.

"MABLE!?"

"You're so jumpy!" Mable giggled.

"I was reading until you..."

He paused as he saw the book laying open on the floor. He picked it up with an aggravated grunt and looked at the pages that the book had landed open on. Dipper stared at the pages in shock and confusion.

"Dipper?" Mable asked, now confused.  
Dipper pointed at the page that had caught his attention.

On the page was what looked like a teenager, or at least Dipper thought it was... But something seemed off about it... The face was white as if made out of pure bone and the eyes were round without any eyelids, at least there weren't any that he could see... And the mouth of the teenager was crudely cut into an inappropriate grin...

**A/N: This is the first time I've ever used any characters other than Coraline XP So I hope that none of them are out of character **


	5. Chapter 5

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Four

Coraline was on the back of the motor-bike while Wybie continued to drive down the road. Even with the ride starting out smoothly, Wybie was now driving slowly. He wanted to make sure to not hydroplane off the road, as the rain was now pounding against the ground and creating puddles along the road.

Coraline shivered, feeling the water starting to drench her through her raincoat. She however fought back the slightly sick feeling forming in her body and wanted to stay focused on what was going on around her.

"Wybie, I think we should wait for the rain to stop..." Coraline managed, reluctant to hold back the shivers going through her. "We don't want to get in an accident.

Wybie glanced back at her after he slowed down to a stop.

"We might only be about three or four hours away." Wybie said.

"Well, it would be better to wait out the rain than getting in an accident..." Coraline reasoned.

"Where would we be able to stay? We barely have that much money..."

Coraline thought for a moment. She then turned and looked around, but could not really see anything that could be used.

"We could just wait until the rain lightens up I guess..." Coraline relented after a moment. "No use in almost getting killed by sliding off the road..."

Wybie nodded and they soon got off on the nearby dirt road, which had turned into mud by now and took refuge under an old wooden shack that had only three of four walls and the roof. Coraline finally shivered as she sat down on the relatively try ground, thanks to the way the walls have been angled away from the pounding rain. Wybie took out a thick blanket from his bag and draped it around her gently, which Coraline thanked him for with a gentle smile and they both relaxed in the shelter, hoping to wait out the storm.

* * *

Norman found himself in the same dark and grime covered room as the foul smell seemed to have gotten much stronger than he remembered. This time however, was different... He could see in the darkness of the room now, even without the need of a flashlight.

"Hello? Courtney? Neil?" Norman called out.

He carefully made his way through the dark corridor, being careful not to slip on the slick wetness on the floor. Norman winced at the splashing as it seemed to echo loudly. He finally stopped after a few moments.

The smell of blood and mold had begun to make him feel sick and he groaned, wincing at the foul and rotten smell of decaying flesh. The soft splash from behind him, caused Norman to twist back in surprise. When he couldn't place the noise, he turned back around and froze as he saw a pair of gleaming eyes staring back at him.

Behind the figure, Norman could spot the still and decapitated forms of a young boy and girl that looked to have been the same age. He stumbled back and fell onto the ground, wincing as he landed on his back. He quickly tried to scramble away from the figure, when the blob of darkness in front him began to move and seemed to manifest into the form of a teenager that had to obviously be older than he was. Norman went pale as he got a better look of the teen in front of him.

The face seemed to be so pale that it looked white and the eyes were wide open but didn't seem to have any ability to blink. Norman cowered away as he saw more of the teen mere inches from his face. The teen looked at him, his mouth seeming to have been gashed up to make him seem like he was always smiling...

"Sshhhhhh..." It whispers darkly, lifting up a bloody knife. "Go to sleeep..."

As the knife came down, Norman let out a blood curdling scream as he shot up into the sitting position. His scream echoed and caused the others around him to do the same. Courtney having been jarred out of her sleep, having only five hours of sleep once they had stopped at a rest area to sleep for a bit. Courtney snapped her head around and glared at her brother.

"What the h*ll is WRONG with you!?" She screamed angrily.

Norman looked around, seeing that they were all in the car.

"W-what hap-!" Norman coughed and breathed heavily. "W-where are we?" He asked, remembering that they had driven for at least ten hours now.

"We were all SLEEPING until YOU almost gave me a HEART-ATTACK.." Courtney growled.

Norman sighed.

"So how far are we?"

Courtney was about to retort a snarky reply but sighed.

"We've still got about sixteen miles from here..." Courtney said.

She then scowled.

"Dad is SO going to kill me for doing this... His going to kill us BOTH when he finds out about this..."

"We can explain later..." Norman said. "For now, we need to figure out how to get to Gravity Falls..."

"Well, it's pretty much morning now..."

Courtney replied. She stifled a yawn.

"I needed more sleep..." She finally said after a moment.

Norman looked over at a nearby sign that pointed to towards a road, surprised that even in the darkness he could see what it said.

"Courtney, there's a sign that says we're twenty miles out of Oregon..." He said. "So we're not too far now."

Courtney glanced at the sign and nodded.

"Yeah, we should start driving again..." She then wriggled her nose. "They better have SHOWERS at that shop you kept talking about..."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they do..." Norman replied.

As they began to get things set up, they started on the road again, Courtney pulling her hair in a tight bun to keep it out of her face. As they started on the road, Norman sat quietly thinking about this newer vision... He couldn't shake the chills filling him body as he thought of that blank and sinister stare... The gashed up smile... And the last words he heard before waking up being the maniacal whispering words... 'Go to sleep'

**A/N: I seriously hope that I didn't ruin this story T-T Anyway, I know the others don't have author's notes ^^; But I will seriously need some with this :( I don't know where to go from here So, please just let me know what to do ^^;**


	6. Chapter 6

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Five

The loud crash of thunder jolted Dipper from his sleep, causing him to sit upright and looked around. His eyes landed on the clock which read 4:53am. He then glanced out the window of the shared bedroom. The sky was an inky blackness outside, regardless of the time; the only light coming from the frequently flashes of lightening not too far away from the Mystery Shack. Dipper then turned his attention to his sister's sleeping form in the bed across from his own. He started to wonder how Mable could possibly be able to sleep through this storm.

Dipper then glanced over at the window again, watching as the droplets of rain water cascaded down the glass, leaving small trails behind. He started to think back on days when it'd be storming outside. Dipper couldn't remember a time that he was this apprehensive about everything around him. He guessed it because of the incident that happened a few months before, when he and Mable had met Coraline and the other Mystery Kids had teamed to take out Dr. Loboto. The events of that night were pretty intense; not that it made him completely terrified in the end... But he still remembered it very well.

He then began to think about what has been happening for the past few days. Dipper remembered the second call he had gotten earlier that night; about two more children missing and sure enough the events had been presented on the news some time later. How could Norman possibly known about the disappearances? There was something that Norman was not telling them. When he had asked the night of looking for Dr. Loboto of how he had known where he was when no one else had a single clue... Norman had said it was a hunch...

Dipper didn't believe that for a second, there had to be something else there... He then kicked himself mentally. Norman had told him about his powers to talk to the dead some time after the call and the same with having visions if something were going to happen. Dipper wondered if he told the others about his powers... He had to have; why wouldn't he?

Dipper got out the book he had been reading about and looked at the pages that he had found before. He scanned the pages and froze, his face becoming ashen from horror and shock. He had found the picture of what Norman had told him that he'd seen in his vision. A well-known sinister urban legend who went by the name of 'Jeff the Killer'. Dipper shook his head. Jeff the killer had only been in stories, there was no way that he could be a real thing.

A sudden noise from outside caught his attention and Dipper glanced out to see a single beam of light that seemed to cut through the darkness like a knife.

"Ugh... Who could that be out in the rain at this time...?" Dipper groaned and slowly stood up.

He picked up one of the blankets that was folded up on a chair and flung it over his shoulders and carefully snuck down to the main floor. Dipper managed to reach the front door, without making that much noise. He was shocked to find a teenage girl standing on the porch of the shop, her short blue hair hanging flat against her head and face from the driving rain, and the blanket over her, not giving any better protection as she had been keeping it over her head to try and stay dry. Behind her was a boy around the age with dark skin and a mess of dark brown that made up his hair, which was slightly dry thanks to his skull helmet he had worn while driving the motor-bike that he had just placed under a wooden lean-to for protection.

"Coraline? Wybie? W-what...?" Dipper began but then stopped.

"You CALLED us here, remember?" Coraline remarked in slight annoyance.

"Yes, but do you know what _time_ it is?" Dipper asked.

"No, it's too frickin' DARK, so we didn't PERPOSEFULLY decide to just drive her around MIDNIGHT!" Coraline scowled.

"Okay okay! Keep it _down!"_ Dipper whispered harshly. "I've already got a problem with our grunkle Stan getting mad about the incident with Loboto... I don't need him flipping out about waking him and everyone else by yelling."

Coraline's scowl deepened.

"Well, are you gonna let us in or just let us stand out here and freeze?" She asked rhetorically.

Dipper sighed and rolled his eyes. He then moved aside to let them enter. Coraline grunted in thanks and hurried inside with Wybie following suit.

"Sorry about Jonesy..." Wybie apologized. "She's been a bit uneasy about all of this..."

Dipper shrugged.

"I've seen people worse than that, trust me..." He admitted a bit submissively.

Wybie relaxed a little and smiled.

"Well, thanks for not taking it personally." He said after a moment

Dipper led his friends up to the attic where Mable was still sleeping soundly... That was until they entered the room and Dipper saw his sister sitting on the bed.

"Hey, Cora and Wybie!" Mable smiled.

Coraline took a moment but replied with a wave.

"Hey." Wybie added.

"I thought you'd be here in a day or so..." Mable said.

"We left early..." Coraline stated as she let the soaking wet blanket fall to the floor.

She shivered a little as some of the rain water pattered to the floor from her soaking wet clothes and the blanket leaving a well-sized puddle.

"So... Are the others coming here?"  
"Yeah, but we don't know when they'll get here..." Dipper replied. "For now, we should find a place for you to stay, since we may be on this mystery for a while..."  
"Well, HOPEFULLY it won't be that long... My parents don't even know I'm here... They were almost unsure of leaving me alone since what happened before..."

"You think YOU'VE got it bad? I wasn't allowed to watch the shop because of that!" Dipper nearly snapped, catching himself at the last minute.

"Well, nothing we can do about that..." Coraline replied as she crossed her arms.

Dipper scowled but then sighed.

"Right... Lets worry about what's important right now..."

Coraline was about to say something but then stopped and nodded instead.

"Alright then.."

After a few minutes, Coraline and Wybie both got their stuff from their luggage and went to go change. After getting everything taken care of, Coraline and Wybie found some thick blankets and made a place to sleep for the rest of the night. Dipper knew that he'd have to explain everything to Stan and the others in the morning. But for now, they needed to sleep.

**A/N: I know it took me a while ^^; But I've been stuck :( Also, I'm sorry if this seemed a bit rushed ^^; But I just kinda wanted to pick up the pace of the story a little bit XP I hope you all don't get upset that I did that XB Anyways, I might take a break from this and maybe start another story that may just be for 'Psychonauts' ono But that kinda depends on how I'm feeling right now ^^; I've been thinking about a lot of different story ideas :3 But there's way too many for me to list XP So, I'll just leave you all to guess what they are X3 Anyways... Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this so far**


	7. Chapter 7

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Six

The next morning, everyone was still fast asleep. Coraline and Wybie were asleep on their makeshift beds. The sopping wet blanket was hung up on the top of the open door where Dipper had put it to let it drip dry instead of letting it end up molding up on the floor. The section of the wooden floor where the blanket had been laying had already began to slightly warp from the excessive amount of water that had soaked into it.

Dipper groaned as he woke up, his head seeming to be pounding. He winced as he tried to sit up.

"O-ouch... W-what the..." He groaned, rubbing his aching head.

Dipper looked outside and could see that it was still raining, though not as hard as the night before. There was a light mist that had formed even with the drizzling rain.

"Hmm..." He sighed after a moment.

Dipper slowly got out of bed and went to get cleaned up, making sure not to trip over the two sleeping forms on the floor. Mable woke up after about an hour and looked outside as she heard what sounded like a vehicle pulling up.

"I wonder who that is..." She said to no one in particular.

Mable gasped with a smile as she saw the familiar boy with dark brown hair that surprisingly stuck straight up and another slightly heavier boy with curly orange hair getting out of the car.

"Norman's here!" She screamed, accidentally waking Coraline and Wybie.

"UGH...! Why are you SCREAMING all the time!?" Coraline growled, hating being awaken so suddenly.

"Norman and Neil are here!" Mable cheered again and jumped from her bed, rushing down the stairs.

Dipper, who had been walking to the room was knocked over as his sister unintentionally plowed into him.

"Mph!?" Dipper grunted as they both fell down.

"What the HEY, Mable!?" He shouted.

"They're HERE, Dipper!" Mable cheered happily and got up to rush down the stairs.

When they got downstairs, Dipper opened the door and saw Norman and Neil on the porch.

"Hey guys, glad you could ma- ."

Dipper stopped as he saw another person that he'd never met. He was shocked to see a girl that was at least at the age of twenty years, being older than Coraline.

"Are you the ones that own this place?" The blonde asked a bit rudely.

"Uh, n-not really we uh..." Dipper started but then trailed off.

"Well, Norman said that this was the place so I'm guessing you're friends or something?"

"Um... Yeah?"

"Then I guess we're here... Please tell me you've got a running bath and shower?" She rudely huffed and pushed her way inside.

"Nice to meet you too..." Dipper muttered a bit exasperated by the girl's uppity attitude.

"Uh, sorry Dipper... I-I should've told you... I had to have my sister Courtney come along... My Dad doesn't know that we're here... It's uh... Kind of a long story..." Norman muttered, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, now Coraline may be in a contest against your sister..." Dipper replied.

"Yeah... About that..." Norman started.

He didn't get to finish as he heard shouting from upstairs.

"And so it starts..." Dipper deadpanned.

They ran upstairs to find Coraline and Courtney already going at it.

"Well, can't wait to see how Lili reacts to Courtney being here..." Dipper stated sarcastically.

"I wonder where Raz and Lili are right now..." Norman said.

It wasn't that long before they saw something flash outside the window.

Norman could see a young boy wearing what looked to be a brown jacket with matching gloves and boots with a green sweatshirt beneath it. He was standing on a ball of orange light. Norman and Dipper could see he was also wearing a pair of red goggles over his eyes; the helmet on his head, hiding most of his hair aside from the tuft of auburn colored bangs.

As the boy touched down, a young girl with the same colored hair that was set in long pigtails on either side of her head landed beside him on the ground. She wore a red and green plaid shirt with pink skirt and leggings with black boots with matching fingerless gloves; the leggings giving her a bit more cover and being much thicker than if it were summer time.

"Hey Raz, hey Lili!" Norman called out to them.

"Sorry we're late..." Raz said. "We had some trouble on the way here..."

"Apparently it's hard to keep our levitation up while up in the mountains, since there's all that snow and ice..." Lili intoned.

"Well, at least you're here and that's what matters right now..." Dipper replied.

Lili shrugged.

"So, I see you made it too." Raz stated light-heartedly.

"Yeah..." Norman said. "There's someone who is also here... And she may be kind of a pain in the a- ..." He stopped. "Uhh..."

"You can say it you know... We're all old enough..." Raz commented with a slight smirk.

"O-oh, um... Well I'll think about that..." Norman replied. "Anyways, she can get pretty bad... Especially if something doesn't go how she wants it..."

"I bet she's no match to me and Raz." Lili said with a shrug.

"You'll have to meet her soon, so you should really get ready for whatever she says." Norman replied.

"We'll see what she's got..." Lili said a bit flippantly as she walked past him into the Mystery Shack.

**A/N: I'm sorry for making this one a bit short XP I've just kinda got home an hour ago... X-X But anyways, please read and review :3 **


	8. Chapter 8

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Seven

As they all headed up the stairs, they could hear Coraline and Courtney going back and forth about unimportant things, or at least it seemed like they weren't important to Norman and Dipper.

"...You just think you can walk in here and think you're in _charge_ of everyone!?" Coraline shouted.

"Last time I checked, _I_ was the oldest of all of you!" Courtney shot back.

"Well, _I'm_ the leader of this _group!"_ Coraline stated. "So what _I_ say _goes!"_

Courtney scowled.

"Excuse me!?" Lili shouted, getting the other two's attention.

"Oh, hey Lili.." Coraline said as she walked passed Courtney. "Glad you and Raz could make it."

"It's great to see you too, Blue-Streak.." Lili grinned, a bit playfully.

Coraline made a slight face at the use of that nickname.

"We're all here, so... Now what?" Lili asked.

"Well, Norman had been telling us about these visions his been having..." Dipper replied as he walked over to the group.

"He's been having more of them? After the one he told all of _us_ about?" Lili asked in surprise.

"Yeah, and he was right... There's been more disappearances." Dipper replied.

"That's why we're here?" Courtney rudely interrupted. "Just because he had nightmares?"

"It wasn't just _nightmares!"_ Norman shot back at his arrogant older sister. "They were _visions!"_

"Visions? Nightmares? What's the _diff?"_ Courtney scowled as she crossed her arms.

"You mean aside from the visions actually being _true?"_ Lili interjected.

"Was I _talking_ to you?" Courtney snapped angrily.

"You might as WELL have been! Since you think _you_ know EVERYTHING!" Lili retorted back.

"You should learn how to RESPECT people who are OLDER than you!" Courtney growled, shoving Lili back.

"You wanna mess with me!?" Lili challenged. "I could take you down with one hand behind me!"

"Oh, you think you're so tough!" Courtney scowled. "I'll show YOU tough!"

"GUYS!" Norman shouted, getting Lili's and Courtney's attention. "We have to work together on this!"

Courtney and Lili turned away from each other, arms crossed. Norman sighed.

"Look, we don't know what's going on here... But we have to work as a _team_ or we'll never solve this..." Norman stated, trying to calm everyone down.

Dipper soon remembered something.

"Norman, you said that you've been seeing a dark figure in your visions, right?" He asked, forgetting that Norman may had told him already.

"Yeah... I told you about it." Norman replied.

"Told you about... What?" Raz asked Dipper, wanting to know why he and Lili weren't told about it.

"There was a dark figure in my visions." Norman replied for Dipper. "That's how it started... But I now I know what the figure looks like now..."

This caught everyone else's attention as well.

"I think it was a teenager, maybe a little older than that... His face was pure white like it was made out of bone and this really creepy smile on his face..." Norman said

Dipper froze, everything coming back to him now.

"D-did you just say he had a white face and creepy smile?"

"Yeah..." Norman replied. "But... I-it wasn't natural... It... It looked like it was cut into his face..."

Dipper stared at him for a long moment before stumbling back a bit as he remembered something else.

"Hey, you okay Dipper?" Norman asked a bit confused.

"Y...Yeah... I-I'm fine..." Dipper managed to reply after a moment.

"You're awfully pale for being 'fine'." Lili said, looking a bit worriedly at her friend.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Coraline wanted to know. She didn't think that whatever was in the visions would've been bad enough to make Dipper go as pale as a sheet.

Dipper finally managed to swallow the knot in his throat.

"Guys? There's something that I need to show you..." He finally managed to say.

Dipper led them over to the beds near the window. He carefully removed a rather large tome from a nearby drawer. They could see that there was what appeared to be a hand within six fingers. The other eight watched him as he flipped through page after page to find what he was looking for. Dipper soon found the pages. Within the pages, the nine of them could see the sketched depiction of the said urban legend. The said teenage being dressed in what seemed to be a white sweatshirt; which was stained with blood, easily established by the dark red paint that had been splashed about the sketch. His face was an unnatural white as if made out of bone. His eyes are lined with black, giving him a ghastly appearance. The most terrifying of all, being the unnatural and inappropriate smile on his face.

"T-that's him..." Norman nearly whispered, his body slightly shaking as the eyes seemed to stare at him.

They all looked at the page, the name the name 'Jeff the Killer' written in choppy bold letters.

Coraline stared at the image, her eyes wide in shock and horror at the sight.

"I-I thought he was just a story..." Dipper said, his voice in a somber whisper.

"I-I've never heard of this guy..." Raz admitted, a bit sheepishly.

Dipper stared at Raz as if he had just asked what rain was made out of.

"He's a serial killer that had gone insane at a young age and killed his entire family." Dipper informed him.

Raz stared at him.

"Does it say what made him go insane?"

Dipper looked through the pages, but found that some of it was illegible.

"I... Can't really read what it says..." Dipper replied.

Raz looked at him before turning to the others.

"Well, now that we know what we're up against... I think we should start by finding him..." Raz stated.

"What!? Are you INSANE!?" Coraline shouted.

"Hey! If we don't look for this guy, he could attack again at any time!" Raz replied.

"Raz, do you even know what that guy is capable of!?"

"You didn't seem so freaked out when we went after Dr. Loboto!"

"That guy was nothing by a mental lunatic!" Coraline shouted. "He _wasn't _an insane serial killer!"

"That Jeff guy doesn't scare me..." Raz replied, folding his arms. "Remember, it'd be all of us against _him_..."

"Did you forget that he could easily kill us?"

"Jonesy?" Wybie started.

Coraline looked at Wybie.

"You know, he _is_ kinda right..."

Coraline stared at him.

"You're taking HIS side!?"

"I'm just _saying_, Jonesy... It'd be nine of us against him..."

Coraline thought about this. Why was she so against this? She was never afraid of ANYTHING. Why would this be any different? She let out a sigh.

"Yeah... You're right..." Coraline relented. "But we've better get ready for him..."

"Whoa! Whoa! WAIT a minute!" Courtney interjected. "You're willing to risk getting KILLED!?"

"We have to stop him, Courtney..." Norman replied. "If we DON'T, more people would get hurt or _killed." _

"What do you mean by 'WE'!?" Courtney shouted. "I'm not going out there and risking my life! You all are on your OWN!"

Dipper scowled.

"We need EVERYONE to join up against this guy!" He nearly yelled back.

"I don't know what makes YOU think that guy won't take us all OUT while we're sleeping!" Courtney sneered.

"Well, thanks for THAT visual..." Lili muttered sarcastically.

Courtney ignored her.

"You all can do what you want... But _I'm_ staying here..." Courtney stated as she sat down on a nearby chair.

"Fine..." Dipper growled. "We'll go on our own..."

He turned to the others around him.

"C'mon... We should get going..."

With that, everyone aside from Courtney left the room, leaving the blonde alone in the attic.

**A/N: To those who might be reading this story(Not sure if anyone is or not...)... I have noticed that not a lot of people seem to be happy with this story... :( So... As of now, I think that I might be discontinuing this story on this site and might just post the story on DeviantArt ^^; I'm sorry :C But I just feel like I'm not as good of a writer that I used to be T-T Because of being gone for so long, I feel that I lost my ability to actually write anything TnT So... If I don't upload the next part after three or four weeks, then it would mean that I have no longer found the inspiration to continue... But I might continue on DeviantArt if I'm not too busy with other things... See ya later I guess...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Starting A/N: This may be the first time that I put notes at the beginning of chapters ^^; But I just wanted to let you know that I've decided to continue this story even though there might not be that many people reading this story But I thought 'Might as well...' XP Also, later parts in the story may get a bit dark as the story goes on, so I just thought I'd tell you now instead of waiting until after to be told this... Also, there may be minor cussing as you probably already realized from the parts before this But I might as well let you all know...**

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Eight

They got outside and saw the rain was slightly lightening up though everything was still soaking wet. Raz groaned in annoyance.  
"Your sister is such a b*tch..." Raz told Norman.  
Everyone stared at him with looks of 'What the h*ll, Raz!?', clearly not at all impressed with what Raz had just said.  
"What? I'm just _saying."_ Raz replied with a shrug. "Also... Coraline, why did you keep saying _you_ were the leader when you put me as the leader?"  
"First of all, we're BOTH leaders... Secondly, if you think that I was going to back down from Courtney, that'd never happen..." Coraline replied.  
"Well, we should get started with trying to find that guy..." Raz stated after a moment.  
"I don't know if we should do that right now..." Neil muttered, being the first time he'd said anything. "It's pretty foggy and you know what happens when it's foggy... Something always pops out and tries to get you.."  
Dipper rolled his eyes.  
"That only happens in movies.." He replied.  
"Dipper's right.." Mable agreed. "We're not in a movie, so that can't happen.."  
"So, what're we _waiting_ for?" Coraline asked. "Let's go..!"  
Coraline then started off into the forest, leaving the others behind.  
"Hey! Wait up!" Dipper shouted after her.  
After walking for at least a few hours, the group could see the sky was now growing dark as more rain seemed to be falling sporadically around them.  
Coraline glanced up at the sky; which now had an inky blackness as the sun had gone down and night was creeping its way above. The dark and dismal clouds concealed any light that had had been present before.  
"Ugh... Rain again? Seriously..?"

Dipper looked around confused. This part of the woods was someplace entirely new. None of the trees seemed to be at all familiar.  
"Guys...?" He started but jumped as an earsplitting crash shot through the air, causing them all to jump in surprise.  
Raz looked all around a bit uneasy as the large raindrops pounded against the soil, forming large puddles and pools of mud about the ground. Dipper and the others began to look for a place to wait out the storm, but stopped as they saw Raz wouldn't move.  
"Raz, c'mon!" Dipper shouted.  
Raz stared at the deepening puddle or water. The sound and sight of electrical charge zipped wildly through the thick cloud cover and shook Raz out of his trance. He let out a slight yelp as a bolt of lightning made contact with a nearby tree, splitting off a branch and causing it to collapse to the ground. Raz quickly activated his levitation and raced after the others. Once clear of the water, he started to run.  
They had to find shelter and wait out the storm. The ground beneath them slightly sink under their feet as they continued to run. As they were running, the group of eight were still getting pelt by the rain. Raz was trying to catch up to them, when his foot suddenly caught on a large bit of stone causing him to trip and stumble. When Raz looked up, he could hear the sound of crumbling and scraping of loose stones. He let out a cry and tried to escape only to have the damp earth give way beneath him.  
"RAZ!" Lili cried as she jumped forward to grab him, getting his hand.  
The rest of the ground had already began to give way, causing all eight of them to plummet into darkness below. Their screams echoed through the darkness. There was a loud splash. They then found themselves neck-deep in what they assumed was water. Wybie turned on the flashlight, amazed that it still worked despite the water-logging it endured. Everyone looked around.  
By what they could tell they were in a blank room, the walls seeming to be made of stone and cement worn away by age. There was a faint sound of dripping water echoing off of the walls. Wybie could only guess that they were in some type of unused and abandoned water reservoir, realizing the ceiling had given out from a saturation of rain water. Wybie then looked around and was relieved to see that all eight of them... Wybie froze as he looked again, only seeing six others with him.  
"Guys...? W-where's Raz?"  
At that moment Raz broke the surface and took in a deep breath. Everyone stared horrified as a large hand of water took hold around Raz and pulled him down, Raz only having time to let out a short cry before he was completely submerged.  
"Raz!" Lili cried out.  
Coraline ducked under the water, the muddy water, stinging her eyes as she tried to see. She found him struggling against the now multiplying hands that were holding him under. Coraline quickly swam her way towards him, gripping onto his shoulders. She seemed to be struggling as if Raz had become dead-weight. Coraline finally managed to pull him free and broke through the surface, taking in a heaving breath. She coughed as she waded her way over to the others. Lili quickly grabbed him from Coraline's arms and frantically tried to wake Raz up.  
"We have to get out of here!" Coraline stated in a slight panic.  
Coraline stumbled across the chamber, her legs numb from the cold. She quickly began to grip at the icy stones in one of the walls, trying to find a way out. The rocks then suddenly gave way, crumbling to the floor; creating a chain reaction and the entire wall came tumbling down to the floor. Coraline took cover as rocks and gravel showered over her. As the wall fell the water that was around them soon withdrawn to only their ankles.  
Taking this chance of the low amount of water, Lili quickly set him on an elevated section of the floor.  
Everyone hurried over to them as Lili frantically began to pump Raz's stomach.  
"Raz, come on..." Lili cried. "Please!"  
Just then, Raz's body lurched a bit, coughing up a lot of the water that had entered his lungs. He tried to breathe and turned on his side. Raz began to throw up on the stone floor, his body rejecting the muddy water. His body shuddered from the strain as he coughed and threw up mud and water that he had inhaled. Lili sat beside him, rubbing his back soothingly.  
Raz weakly wiped his mouth and sat on the hard stone floor.  
"What was that thing?" Coraline asked.  
Raz coughed and shivered a bit.  
"The curse..." He coughed out  
Coraline looked confused.  
"Him and his family had a curse put on them..." Lili explained as she hugged Raz comfortingly. "You see... There was this family of gypsies... A... Rival family... They cast a spell that if Raz or any of his family went into any amount of water, even being neck or waist deep... He would drown..."  
They all stared silently at her.  
"Well, that explains why he seemed stressed about the deep puddles before..." Dipper mused.

"S-so... W-w-where are we?" Raz managed to ask. He shivered horribly from the freezing cold. The others were concentrating on drying off the best they can.  
"Actually, we're not too sure..." Wybie admitted after a moment. "But I think we should rest for a while... W-we don't want to be caught off guard again."  
They all agreed and tried to make the best of where they were. There was no doubt that more surprises awaited within the darkness beyond.

**End A/N: For those who may not know, there is an actual fact that Raz is cursed to never enter deep water *nod* If he were to go in water more than a foot or so deep, he would drown... Also, as I had said in the first note above, the story will be getting really dark and it may seem a bit violent later on, but I'm not completely sure at this point right now ^^; I just hope that you won't get mad or flame me for writing this story as it is :( If I DO get flames and being told that I am doing something wrong, I will let people know what I will do to deal with it... Please R&amp;R... I know not many people may really feel that comfortable with this story... I'll see if I want to keep going or not...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Starting A/N: Sorry for taking so long ^^; I've been wondering if I should continue or not, since not many people seem that interested in this story XP Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I'm still here and I want to continue this story *nod* Also, I later parts may get really dark and a bit disturbing ^^; I won't go too far with it though... Hopefully XP Anyone who doesn't like this story, or see something that I should fix or add, please tell me? I really want to know how I can make this story better ;^; Enjoy reading my story :)**

Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Nine  
Everyone rested within the room, Lili having made a small fire from some broken materials that Coraline had found scattered about the room from going through the murky water.  
She took in a shaky breath as she felt something sharp graze her skin. Coraline winced as the muddy water stung the cut a bit. After a moment, Coraline lifted up what had cut her. What she found was a decent sized piece of metal, seeming to have been from a broken pipe or paneling. She looked at the shard in her hands, a bit perplexed by what she was holding.  
"Coraline?" Came a voice, causing Coraline to turn around.  
Lili was looking at her with a concerned expression.  
"E-everything's fine..." Coraline said, hiding the shard the best she could.  
"You've been over there for at least half an hour..."  
Coraline stared at her and then looked around her. Raz coughed and shivered, feeling a sickness forming again. He fought it down, feeling the burning feeling in his throat. Raz swallowed hard, trying to make the burning pass. He stood up on stiff and shaky legs, nearly falling back as he tried to take a step. His back hit the wall with a muffled thump as he stumbled backwards.  
"Raz, you shouldn't be trying to walk _around_ yet..." Lili stated, holding Raz to help him stay balanced.  
"Yeah, like when I have an asthma attack, I was always told to stay in bed..." Neil quietly agreed.  
Raz's legs shook but he was soon able to stand on his own.  
"A little-" He coughed slightly. "Water w-won't stop me from... Being a Mystery Kid..."  
Lili looked at him, a bit surprised and relieved that he had recovered from what happened.  
"Then... What should we _do?"_ Norman asked.  
"We should find a way _out_ of here..." Coraline replied.  
She started searching again, having placed the shard in her pocket to give her ability to use both hands. Coraline began to pull at the rocks that had caved in again, after the wall had collapsed. She was shocked to find the wall crumbling to the floor. A gust of air wafted through the newly made opening. Coraline made a face at the musty and foul smelling air that started to linger around them. They all looked ahead as they soon found what appeared to be a long hallway, murky water covering the floor after a small dip in the ground. The walls of the tunnel looked as though they were growing mold, which Coraline guessed was part of the horrible smell. The water seemed to be caused when the containment wall had been knocked to the ground as all the water seemed to be like what was currently in the room they were in.  
Coraline slowly began to step into the tunnel. The water wasn't very deep, it seemed to only come up just above her ankles as the water from the room seemed to have emptied into the hallway. Coraline looked around before turning around towards the others.  
"C'mon... W-we should get going..." She muttered and slowly began her way into the darkness, the splashing of her steps echoing throughout the long hallway.  
The rest of them soon followed after her, none of them wanting to be left behind.  
All eight of them continued walking through the winding hallway, the darkness only being lit the light of Wybie's flashlight as well as the flames that Lili had created in her hand to make it easier to see.  
They soon rounded a corner; Raz and Lili stopped in their tracks as they felt a heaviness rushing through them. It was as if their minds were becoming foggy as pressure seemed to grow enough to crush them.  
"Raz? Lili?" Norman asked a bit worried.  
He stopped as he could feel a presence around them. Norman glanced over his shoulder, looking off into an unknown distance.  
"Norman?" Dipper called worriedly.  
"They're here..." Norman muttered.  
They all looked at him in surprise.  
"I guess we're going the right way then..." Coraline stated  
"It's... N-not just the three who went missing..." Norman continued on. "T-there were other people who went missing _before_ this..."  
Dipper stared at his friend in shock.  
"B-but... T-there hadn't been anyone mentioned in the news before this..." Dipper replied.  
"H-he's right, Dipper..." Lili agreed with a wince.  
"W-we... C-can hear them..." Raz managed, gripping his head a bit.  
Coraline looked on into the looming darkness ahead.  
"I-I don't like it here..." Neil whimpered as he stepped backwards a bit.  
"We have to keep _going."_ Coraline stated, turning around. "If we don't, who knows how many more people will go _missing..."_  
Raz stared down at the water, an uneasy feeling going through him. Lili put a comforting hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn and smile at her. He nodded and looked back at Coraline.  
"Yeah, we should keep going.." He said finally.  
Soon, their walking began anew. The only sounds that followed were the quiet splashing of their steady foot falls that seemed to echo loudly around them as they walked through the corridor.  
It wasn't long until they found themselves facing an intersection. The hallway branched out to the left and right with a third hallway going on straight ahead.  
"NOW where are we supposed to go?" Lili asked, a bit annoyed at this point.  
Coraline looked at their options and furrowed her brow, trying to think of which way would be the best way to go.  
"We'd better split up..." Coraline said finally.  
"What?" Wybie asked in surprise, the others also in shock.  
"Look, if we don't figure out which way to go, we'd end up just going in _circles..."_Coraline reasoned. "It'd be better to go in different groups and then meet back if we found anything.."  
They began to think through what Coraline said and they all soon nodded.  
Coraline surveyed the group for a moment before looking back at their choices.  
"I think we should have two groups of three and a group of two..."  
Lili and the others nodded.  
"Lili, take Wybie and Mable down the left hallway..." Coraline instructed.  
"No problem." Lili grinned.  
"Norman? You, Neil, and Dipper will go down the right hall..." Coraline continued, looking at them.  
"O-okay..." Norman replied.  
Coraline nodded and looked at the pathway ahead.  
"Me and Raz will go down the center one... We'll meet back at the intersection."  
Everyone nodded and they soon headed off into the different hallways.

* * *

Norman walked down the hallway, he could feel a deep heaviness around him, he could feel the pain, sadness, and anger overwhelming his senses just as he, Neil, and Dipper entered the hallway. Dipper noted how the water had not gone down at all, but had actually begun to rise as the floor had a slow decline.  
Dipper let out a yelp as the floor suddenly seemed to vanish beneath his feet, causing him to dunk beneath the surface before he felt himself slipping down the slick floor with the Norman and Neil behind him. They soon came to a stop at the bottom of some sort of embankment. Dipper groaned as he lifted himself up.  
"W-where are we NOW?" Norman groaned. "It's too DARK!"  
Dipper then realized that he had dropped the flashlight when they had fell down. Dipper frantically searched for the light, his hands making loud splashing as he searched the water. He soon managed to find it and turned it on. That was when Dipper saw the dead eyes of a young girl's corpse staring back at him from the water.  
Dipper screamed and scrambled away from the upper half of the decomposing body. This then caused Norman and Neil to also scream is horror. Norman felt something against his back and snapped his head around to see another body, this one being that of a young boy. Not far from the body was at least three more, those one already mostly decomposed, giving them no identity.  
They could see those wide open eyes staring into nothing. Neil leaned over and vomited on the floor, the sight and smell being way too much for him to take.  
Norman looked at the bodies, able to sense their pain and fear that they had felt during their deaths. He turned and looked around, able to feel presences of the spirits around them. He saw a young teenage girl with black hair covered in cuts and bruises, being the girl that was the first corpse they had seen.  
"What _happened_ to you?" He asked the apparition.  
The girl looked at him, sadness in her eyes. She turned and looked down the direction they were facing. Norman followed her gaze and then looked back at her. Before Norman could ask anything else, she was already gone.  
Norman stood up and turned around.  
"C...c'mon guys..." He managed to say. "L-let's keep going..."  
Neil and Dipper reluctantly obliged and soon stood up, making their way down the dark and winding tunnel ahead.

* * *

Wybie had been looking around the dark hallway, glad that Lili could create light for them to see. This had allowed him to give Dipper his flashlight. There was no point in their group having two different light sources when another group didn't have any at all. Wybie noticed that the water had gone down, leaving only small puddles here and there. He didn't seem to care at this point however, as he was busy looking around at the surrounding walls, as if expecting something to jump out and bite him.  
There was a loud thud of something hitting the ground, causing Wybie to jump. He soon realized how dark it was and he turned around. Lili and Mable were not behind him. Wybie heard a loud yell from down the hallway and quickly rushed back to find his friends.  
Mable didn't know what happened as a bright flash had gone past her face. She felt a sharp stinging on her face. It hurt so much but she fought to ignore it. Mable turned around to find Lili lying on the ground. Lili groaned as she tried to shake the dizziness from her head. She looked up at Mable in shock.  
"W-wha? What-?" Lili asked in confusion.  
She stared as she then saw the wall was smoldering, the cement charred and blackened behind where Mable had been standing. Lili looked down and saw her hand was still holding the flames from using Pyrokinesis. She then saw the first degree burns on Mable's face.  
She couldn't remember what had happened. They were just walking and then... She could remember Mable talking... Oh how annoying Mable had started to sound... She just wanted to make her shut UP already! Why couldn't Mable realize that her chattering on and on was not annoying everyone and that she should just go away? Before Lili had realized, she had found her hands glowing brightly with white hot fire. Lili had moved at the last minute... But Mable still had noticeable burns from where the flames had grazed her face.  
"M...Mable..." Lili started.  
Wybie rushed over to them.  
"Mable, what _happened?"_ He asked in concern.  
He looked at the wall and saw the burn marks as well as Lili's hand that still seemed to be burning and the light burns on Mable's face.  
"Lili! W-what did you _do!?"_ Wybie asked in horror.  
"I...I-I don't know!" Lili replied, her body shaking a bit. "W-we should get out of here..."  
Wybie nodded and they soon began to head back towards the intersection.

* * *

Coraline and Raz had started walking down the central path; the water having leveled out to an elevated concrete floor with dips here and there, which Raz was happy to just avoid the spots as much as possible. Coraline was walking ahead of him, her back towards him as she held the metal shard to protect from anything that may jump out at them.

"I still don't know why we had to split up..." Raz complained. "I think we should've done this differently..."  
Coraline looked at him.  
"Well, I thought that since you, Lili and Norman all have a way to sense things around us, that splitting up this way would have been better than just having you, Norman, and Lili going in one group while the rest of us were wondering around obliviously and getting lost..." Coraline replied.  
"You could have had at least made it so the two leaders were in separate groups..." Raz stated, a bit annoyed. "We didn't have to make each group be on their own..."  
Coraline stopped walking for a second.  
"We needed to make sure each group had someone who could sense what is going on around them... We can't solve this mystery if we don't go prepared..." Coraline said through gritted teeth. Coraline was getting completely fed up with this annoying kid constantly complaining about every little thing. She didn't care if Raz and her were leading the team together, the mere sight of him just made her blood boil. It was probably his constant whining or the better-than-you attitude, since he thinks he could do anything because of his psychic powers. It was no wonder they had almost been killed when fighting Dr. Loboto. He was always acting like he knew everything because of his powers. Why did he even have to be in the team? At least Lili didn't try to act like she was higher than everyone else. Why did she even agree to giving him the title as one of the leaders of the group? All he's done is just get on people's nerves. Coraline then had an idea. She looked down at her hand and tightly gripped the shard of metal she had found. She would just need to take the metal shard and bring it down on his throat, cutting in deep. Then there would be no more Raz to act all high and mighty. It would be quick and- .  
Coraline stopped and froze in place. _'W-what? W-why... W-why would I think that?'_ She knew she and Raz had different opinions... But that didn't mean that she had to resort to something so horrible as murder. She let the shard of metal drop to the floor with a soft clattering sound. She looked down at her hand, realizing that she had been holding the shard so tight that she had created another gash through her palm. Her blood was now seeping through her skin.  
Raz was still behind Coraline, glaring daggers at her back as he slightly backed off a ways, gritting his teeth. He couldn't stand it! Coraline was starting to get so annoying that it aggravated him to no end. Just because she was the original leader of the Mystery Kids, she thought she could just tell everyone what they should do. Didn't she know that he was leader too? They were supposed to work as leader together, but instead she had been the one telling everyone what they should do without letting them choose for themselves! Coraline needed to be put in her place. Raz glanced down at his hand as a thought of using his Pyrokinesis(Fire Power) came to mind. He needed to teach Coraline not to mess with a true Psychonaut! He grinned darkly at the thought of seeing her in searing agony from the white hot flames. He would only need one shot at point blank range to take her out and then HE would be the leader. He wouldn't have to listen to her annoying, smart-*ss voice ever again as there would be nothing left of her when he was finished. Oh, how he would enjoy the sight of her slowly burning to ashes.  
Raz froze in shock and clutched his head in horror as that thought went through his mind, wincing at a slight burning sensation as his pyrokinesis had lightly burned his face. He shook his head hard.  
_'W-what's wrong with me?'_ Raz gripped his head again in pain as he fell to his knees.  
Coraline heard a noise from behind her and spun around as she saw Raz had fell to the floor.  
"R-Raz?" She said a bit hesitantly, a bit shaken by what had been on her mind earlier.  
Raz glanced up, some of the pain clearing his mind, though the burns on his face were present in the dim light.  
"Coraline... I..." Raz started but stopped again.  
There was a sudden loud scream from down the direction they had started from and took off towards the cries of fear.

**End A/N: This is probably one of the darkest parts of this story so far ^^; I know I should just let you read it... But I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going too far XP I know my past story 'When Darkness Falls' seemed a bit dark, this one may follow the same type of dark that I used in that story *nod* Once again, I'm sorry that I take such a long time ^^; But I want to make sure I'm not overdoing this story...**


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